ST. LOUIS -- Brandon Marsh slowly got up from the chair in front of his locker late Sunday afternoon at Busch Stadium. Nearly 30 minutes had passed since the Phillies¡¯ 7-0 loss to the Cardinals.
He had spent much of that time staring into his locker.
Marsh is searching for answers. He is far from the only reason the Phillies¡¯ offense has sputtered recently, but he is a reason. Philadelphia scored just four runs in the Cardinals series, including another shutout loss in Friday¡¯s series opener. The Phils rank 17th in the Majors in runs per game (4.0) this season. But since the second game of the season, they rank 25th, averaging 3.2 per game.
¡°I¡¯m just going through it right now,¡± Marsh said. ¡°I¡¯ve got to do anything I can to help this ballclub win, and right now, I¡¯m not doing that. So, I¡¯ve got to figure some things out.¡±
Marsh is batting .108 (4-for-37) with one home run, four RBIs, seven walks, 14 strikeouts and a .439 OPS in 14 games.
He went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts on Sunday. He's 0-for-26 over his past 11 games.
¡°It¡¯s been a rough start to the season, for sure,¡± he said. ¡°But we¡¯ve got to keep our head down and try to win as many games as we can. I know I¡¯m not doing my part, which stinks the worst. I just feel like I¡¯m letting my guys down. I need to be better for them.¡±
Marsh is the first Phillies player to hit .108 or worse in his first 14 games to start a season (at least one plate appearance in each game) since Mickey Moniak in 2021. Moniak batted .100 (3-for-30), but that was over the course of five months: from April 16-Sept. 11.
Roman Quinn is the last Phillies player to hit .108 or under in his first 14 games in the first month of the season. He batted .074 (2-for-27) from April 1-23, 2021.
Marsh, who has Minor League options, entered the season optimistic. He spent much of January and February working with Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long in Arizona. The Phillies told him that he would get an opportunity to play every day, which meant starting against left-handed pitching. He had a good spring, with 15 walks and an .822 OPS, including good at-bats against lefties Tarik Skubal, Carlos Rod¨®n and Shane McClanahan.
But Marsh is batting .154 (2-for-13) with three walks and eight strikeouts against lefties in the regular season. He started in left field over Max Kepler on Sunday against Cardinals left-hander Matthew Liberatore because manager Rob Thomson wanted Edmundo Sosa to start at second base over the left-handed Bryson Stott. Kepler is batting .200 (3-for-15) against left-handers. Stott is batting .063 (1-for-16) against them.
¡°None of those lefties, really, at this point -- I¡¯m not trying to be negative -- are swinging the bat very good against lefties,¡± Thomson said. ¡°I figured, well, let¡¯s put the best defense out there.¡±
Maybe Marsh needs to sit a day or two.
¡°I¡¯ve got to think about that one,¡± Thomson said.
If Marsh sits, Johan Rojas will get more playing time. He is batting .308 (4-for-13) with a .708 OPS in seven games. Then there is the looming shadow of Phillies No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford, who opened the season with Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
Crawford is baseball¡¯s 60th-ranked prospect overall, according to MLB Pipeline. He is batting .251 with a .641 OPS with the IronPigs. He was hitting .325 (13-for-40) through his first nine games, but he is batting .105 (2-for-19) in his past five. The Phillies have said they don¡¯t expect Crawford to play for them this season, but by starting him in Triple-A, they have told everybody he is in play.
Marsh¡¯s struggles wouldn¡¯t be so pronounced if the rest of the Phillies¡¯ offense had been producing. It hasn¡¯t been. There is frustration in some corners of the clubhouse. Alec Bohm discussed his season-long struggles and frustrations on Saturday.
¡°It¡¯s tough to struggle, right?¡± Bryce Harper said. ¡°But, obviously, it¡¯s the big leagues, so you¡¯ve got try to pull out of it, and understand you¡¯re going to go through ups and downs through the season. But try and stay as even keel as you can. Always remember, it¡¯s not about the name on the back, it¡¯s about the one on the front -- trying to win series, no matter what you¡¯re doing or anything like that.
"You¡¯ve got to keep rolling. I don¡¯t want to be hitting .250 right now, but obviously I want to win every day. You¡¯ve just got to have that mindset coming in each day and try to win ballgames.¡±